I am struck again by how easily personal email (email sent directly to me) confuses me relatively to other online formats. Group email such as on Yahoogroups is not directed specifically at me, so I take it as a general response even if in reply to my words. LJ or other blogs rarely confuse me. IM occasionally. But personal email is the source of huge misunderstanding as generally in email, one does not go on at great length AND it is often meant to be a personal letter. I lack the context of tone and body language. C says I use words more precisely than many other people. Perhaps that's true, but with imprecise words and the person's tone and body language, I fill in the appropriate words, so it's okay. Or in a blog I have more of a sense of the person's tone.

For some years now I've restricted my personal email to formulaic exchanges: invitations, offers to mail or pick stuff up, offers to volunteer, business exchanges. But occasionally, the email departs into more personal realms and I drown in the meaning of words. Is "If we should meet again" just a phrase or that the person has doubts about seeing me? I don't have these types of questions in any other format. I feel a bit like I have a form of email Asperger's. And yes I mean that lightly though Asperger's itself is a serious topic and yet I do wish I were more fluent in the lexicon of email. But I've been using email since 1986, so I'm probably a hopeless case and can only hope that email will go the way of Bitnet (how I first started sending email) and will be replaced by online formats less confusing to me.

It took buying $50 DVDs from Sony and a $160 hard drive (even though Linux read the drive just fine) but my laptop lives again with Vista.

Thanks to C for all his hard work replacing the hard drive and reinstalling Vista. It saved me many many points.

I still have a couple minor problems before I take it to Team Training in 1 week 5 days, but I should be able to get it all copasetic before then.

C got my files off my laptop. Hooray! Not so good --we'll have to replace the hard disk.

I have a nagging headache from the flurry of tree pollen brought on by the rains.

However I have small joys.
C is better and is in fact raking leaves as we speak. A rather useless task IMO but one that brings him satisfaction.

My CCI buddy graduated with hearing dog Naomi aka Meme.
The first hearing dog I ever met was named Maya and she graduated with hearing dogs Macon and Muffey. I have running joke with Maya's proud owner that all hearing dogs' true name begins with "M" and so Meme fits.

Also my best friend in high school called herself by her middle name Naomi. Then in college and beyond she started calling herself by her first name Maia (pronounced the same as Maya)

Yesterday C and I stayed up until 1am scanning in Little T's records and files so I could email them to this new doctor this morning.  We've been meaning to do this for months.  We scanned almost all his most important records except for his several arm MRAs.  This doctor is a holistic pediatrician so I was more trying to tell her all the countless drugs he has been given and his developmental issues.

I also updated a summary of his medical history.  I had forgotten I even had it and was trying to do it from scratch again for the school district.  Doh!

Little T has reams and reams of paper about him.  I doubt we'll get them all scanned in but it's a big deal to get the most important ones.  He sees most doctors at the same teaching hospital so they have all his medical records and his Western medicine pediatrician (whom we really like gets all copies of everything.)  But I hope we'll be going outside this hospital more and more. We love the hospital but we want him to get better.  It's been exhausting recounting everything verbally and copying and/or faxing everything by hand.  So this should save us some work.  Hooray!  

Hey, C showed me this cool game Petals around the Rose

My computer was running slow and I downloaded Ad-Aware SE one of the top ten softwares according to CNet. I downloaded the free version. It found several instances of Spyware. My computer is running much faster. Hooray!

To review, my requirements are fairly simple, I need

• a computer thing that I can take to a cafe
• where I can pound on the keys and the keys won't fly off. I need sturdiness. I rarely pop the keys off a PC keyboard, so I guess I'm looking for that feel.
• with a editor that can import and export documents that Microsoft Word can handle
  

There's not enough space on most cafe tables to fit two laptops and a PC keyboard, and I'm not comfortable typing in my lap, I can't just attach a PC keyboard to a laptop.

As always when I shop for computers, it's hard to find something that works for me

I went to the Apple store today and I tried the Macbook. I really like it. The keyboard feels the most like a regular keyboard of all the laptop keyboards I've tried since my old Toshiba T1100. Yes I bought the first PC laptop ever made. I miss its keyboard. It was sturdy and strong and handled my pounding. Okay the laptop weighed almost 9lbs, but it was my newborn baby.

The Macbook has the keys separated into individual wells which gives me the feeling of separateness I find in PC keyboards. To me, lapboard keyboards seem scrunched together and flimsy, which makes me nervous. The Macbook keyboard also has an initial resistance like a PC keyboard, though of course you can't press the keys down as far. The keys made me feel more secure, so I jerked a lot less than I usually do on laptop keyboards.

Then I talked to one of the Mac repair technicians there and he told me that if I were to break off one of the keys of the Macbook, I'd have to take it in for repair. This is really bad news for me. With a regular lapbook or a PC keyboard, you can just pop the key back on. Not as good as new, but no time and money spent in the shop either.

Should I try a $1100 experiment to see if the Macbook can withstand my keyboard pounding without breaking, should I buy another laptop, or should I buy something else?

Another option I've thought about is to buy a Palm/Pocket PC or ilk and use it with a Bluetooth keyboard. This solves both my key pounding and space issues. But I may go insane trying to edit a document on such a small screen. Another problem is I'm working on a book and the Palm may run out of memory trying to edit it.

I'd also prefer not spend more than about $1300, but if someone showed me a laptop with a wonderfully sturdy keyboard, I'd prolly cough up the money for it.

C suggests I try used laptops, but I'm highly distrustful of the idea. I'll already abuse this laptop, so why would want a used one that someone has probably already abused. I need fresh PC circuits to pound on.

What do you think? I'm sure many of you have opinions on this and I'd welcome any suggestions.

Jed wrote this long review of the Macbook with links to other reviews and articles. I've actually been contemplating buying a Macbook after years of PCs. Why? The keyboard. We have a laptop, but with my movement disorder, I tend to bang the keys and with the newer laptops, the keys fly off. I've already popped off two of the keys of the laptop we have. You can reattach the keys, but they're never quite the same. C suggests bringing a separate keyboard, but the point of a laptop for me is to go to a cafe or someone's house and sit at a table and write. A laptop and a keyboard hogs far more than my fair share. It also just won't fit on many smaller cafe tables.

Yesterday I saw an ad on tv that said the new Macbook has keys in individual slots so the keys don't fly off. That would solve my keyboard problem to the tune of over a thousand dollars. But thanks to the old lady, we're about to be flush with cash. And I'll have to make it a goal to earn the money back in writing money. I'm about to earn my first $200. At my current rate, it will take me years, but I have to start somewhere. :)

Ganked from rfrancis
I'm surprised I scored this high since some of the test was about personal habits, where I'm not that "nerdy" at least according to the quiz, but yes, I do know my science facts and due to Torin's medical issues, C and I spent Friday night playing World of Warcraft.

If you'd like to see Scooby Doo (or 2 humans) dance to the music you play on Microsoft Media Player 10, download this from Microsoft. Special K finds it very entertaining. I like it when Scooby Doo break dances and sommersaults.

I like reading commentary about "Lost" and various theories about what's going on on the Bryn Mawr board. From there I got this link for the most long winded and complicated theory yet that I love it for its sheer audacity, and shiny photos. I missed Hurley in this episode. I love Hurley. I hope he gets together with Libby. Photos of what's in the mysterious black smoke. I posted this before, but it was at the bottom of a serious post, so I'm reposting it: Lost Rhapsody.

Pulled from Jed's journal:"Imagine you’re an 18-year-old computer gamer in Chicago, and you’re sitting around at home one evening when someone you don’t know comes to your door and says they’re from the future, and hands you a package, then leaves." Thus began a 3-year LARP. It's pretty cool. The Future Shock: A Three Year Cross Country Adventure to Save the World

Little T is sick. I'm trying to dictate to my word document and it's making a total mess of what I'm saying. Kerensa is crying in the background. not sure what she's crying about exactly, but she's sitting on the floor crying. It has been a very long weekend. We had a delightful time last night at the fondue party, but that's now distant memory


Here's what Microsoft made of it:

Little tea is set and trying to dictate to mind word document and is making a total amounts of what I'm saying Kerensa is crying in the background not sure what she's crying about exactly what she's sitting on the floor crime has been a very long weekends we had a delightful time last night's at the forum to 40 that's now distant memory

Word ate my cover letter to Lee & Low, so I finally decided to install Microsoft Office 2003. After a lot of painful waiting and restarting I installed it and Service Pack 2. I think singing "Go service pack, go" helps the process, but it only worked the third time after I sang it throughout.

The new word wasn't able to open the cover letter either, but the new help was more helpful, so I was able to retrieve a backup copy from this strange directory I was vaguely aware that existed back when I was a sysadmin.

So I feel okay about more $$ to the man. Or rather to my sister-in-law who works there. I think one of my exbfs still does too. Both them are nice folks.

I didn't actually write anything today, so I have to borrow from yesterday's count.

Sorry for the relative silence. My finger's been bothering me. I went to the doctor and got a metal splint, which makes it difficult to type. I also got an x-ray of my hand. No results yet.

I've been uploading a lot of photos from the past two months. Here are some of my hs reunion.

Perhaps related to hs for some, here's Consumer Reports rating of condoms. Ironically CR "rated one model that Planned Parenthood distributes at its clinics as poor because its strength was so low compared with the rest."


Which OS are You?